Media Release February 4th, 2019

AUTOSAR appoints a new chairman and a deputy-chairman

The AUTOSAR (AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture) development partnership appointed Michael Niklas as the new chairman and Thomas Fabian as the new deputy-chairman. Moreover, Ando Yasushi is selected as a new speaker of the AUTOSAR Project Leader Team. Their term of office is twelve months from January to December 2019.

Michael Niklas is an active member of the AUTOSAR steering committee representing Continental AG. He is responsible for Software Standardization activities at Continental and represented Continental in the AUTOSAR standard in various work groups. He follows Rick Flores, Technical Fellow of Model-Based Electrical System and Software Engineering at . In this position, Michael Niklas will oversee administration, finances, internal coordination and AUTOSAR business development for his term of office. Formerly, he was part of the AUTOSAR Project Leader Team.

“First, I would like to thank Rick Flores for his remarkable commitment during his term of office,” said Michael Niklas. “As a worldwide standard, AUTOSAR strives for a continuous improvement of the quality and features with a strong focus on standardization of both Classic and Adaptive Platforms. The improved interaction between the two platforms released with the update in autumn 2018 was a big step, but there is still more potential for optimization especially on the overall system level that we are facing in the next months.”

Michael Niklas obtained a Master of Science in Informatics in January 2011 at the University of Applied Sciences in and has been working at Continental on a variety of software standard related topics. After his first experiences in AUTOSAR diagnostics and technical safety he continued as an architect of the Continental AUTOSAR solution and represented Continental in the AUTOSAR standardization as the main architect and project leader. His latest focus areas include a leadership role of Software Standards in the central corporate structure in Continental and is looking into existing and future standards for automotive.

Thomas Fabian is head of department inside ’s Electric/Electronic division and among other topics responsible for cross car line functions like car diagnostics, over-the-air updates and software framework development. He studied telecommunication engineering and started his career 1988 at Bosch as a software developer for engine ECUs. In 2003, he entered Volkswagen AG

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and served in various positions as project- and team lead for hands-free integration, HMI specification and development and functional safety.

“I am honored to hold a representative position at AUTOSAR”, said Thomas Fabian. “A continuous strategic development of the AUTOSAR platforms with new features to improve the software is a key motivation of my work within AUTOSAR.”

In addition, Ando Yasushi from Motor Corporation, who is a working in the AUTOSAR Project Leader Team, is the new speaker of the PL Team. As the speaker, he will support the other executives and communicates internally as well as externally on behalf of the Project Leader Team to improve the quality and features of the AUTOSAR platforms.

About AUTOSAR (AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture) AUTOSAR (AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture) is a global development partnership of car manufacturers, suppliers and other companies from the electronics, semiconductor and software industries. Since 2003, they have been working on the development and introduction of several open, standardized software platforms for the . By simplifying replacement and update for software and hardware, the AUTOSAR approach forms the foundation for reliably controlling the growing complexity of electronic and software systems in today’s and future vehicles. In addition, AUTOSAR improves cost efficiency by enabling its partners to cooperate in a competitive way. The "Core Partners" of AUTOSAR are the BMW Group, Bosch, Continental, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, the PSA Group, Toyota and the . In addition to these companies, more than 200 partners play an important role in the success of the partnership and can use the standards free of charge.

Further information: Web: www..org Mail: [email protected]

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